Pholiotina cyanopus

Hat

0.3-1.2(2.4) cm in diam., conical to sub-hemispherical then broadly convex, sometimes oblong, dry to moist, smooth to slightly wrinkled towards disc with age, often with fibrillose velar remnants towards margin, ocher, dark brown to reddish cinnamon brown, fading to tan when dry, margin translucent-streaked when moist

Blades

adnate to adnexate, moderately broad, close to spaced apart, cinnamon brown to dull rusty brown, fringed, whitish at first, darkening with age

Foot

2-4 x 0.1-0.15 cm, equal, often broadened towards the base, brittle, smooth, whitish at first, then grayish to brownish towards the apex, whitish, and often tinting or crumpling greenish-blue to greenish-gray towards the base, fading to grayish, especially with age, without an annulus

Spore

cinnamon brown

basidia

clavate, with 4 sterigmata, 15-20 x 7-8.5 µm

Spores

broadly ellipsoid in front view, unequal in profile view, smooth, fairly thickened wall, with small germ pore, dull rusty brown in alkalis, 6.5-7.5(9) x 4-5 µm

Cheilocystidia

fusiform-ventrue, swollen towards the base, with cylindrical and attenuated neck, obtuse towards the apex, rarely subcapitate, (20)25-30(40) x 7.5-11 µm, with neck up to 15 µm in length and apex up to 4-5 µm in diameter

Pleurocystidia

absent

Caulocystidia

present mainly towards the apex, cylindrical-lageniform

Pileipellis

in hymenoderm
formed of a layer of piriform cells, tangled with pileocystidia

Pileocystidia

numerous, similar to cheilocystidia

Stipitipellis

formed of cylindrical hyphae, hyaline

velar elements

formed of filamentous hyphae, ± hyaline

Loops

absent

Mode of growth

scattered

Ecology

saprotrophic
on clay soil in grassy areas, lawns and fields, or among mosses

Edibility

moderately to strongly hallucinogenic
containing psilocin, psilocybin and baeocystin

Remarks

This conocybe is characterized by its blue-green foot at the base, especially with age, and the size of its spores.
Conocybe tenera, similar, has much larger spores, 10-12 x 5.5-7 µm. Conocybe smithii differs in having a more delicately umbrate cap, subcapitate cheilocystidia, slightly longer spores, and grows mostly in mossy environments or forest swamps. Like the other species of grassy environments, Psilocybe semilanceata, P. mexicana and P. tampanensis, Pholiotina cyanopus can give a sclerotium, a form of latent which gives it some protection against fires and other natural disasters.

References

MycoMatch (MatchMaker) Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest
Version 2.4.1. 2023.